Rose Namajunas vs. Paige Van Zant
The first round began. Paige lands a leg kick, eating a counter right. Rose lands another right. And a left and another. Paige lands a side kick. Rose lands a left. Knees the body, clinch. Rose gets a trip to half-guard. Rose lands a right elbow, Paige regains guard, 4:00. Rose passes easily to side control, north-south. Knee on belly. Two right elbows, another. A left elbow, two more. Paige rolls out, eats a knee as they stand. Paige lands a left. Paige is cut on the right cheek. 3:00. Rose lands a hard straight right. Rose lands a counter right. Rose lands a long jab. Rose lands a right, clinch. Rose defends a throw getting the back off it. No hooks. One hook. Turns on top to mount, two hard left elbows, 2:00. Gets the back, both hooks. A few rights under, ggets the choke! Paige defending actually. Blood everywhere. That cut's bad now. Rose lets a hook go, both hooks actually. Paige stands to the clinch. Bad bad cut. Paige with short rights inside. Rose dumps her down to guard. 1:00. Rose lands a right. That cut needs to be checked. 35. Rose lands a left and a right, passes easily to half-guard. She seems to just choose when to pass. Rose lands two lefts,a right. 10 seconds. A slicing left elbow, a harder one. R1 ends, 10-9 Namajunas without a doubt. R2 began. Rose lands a leg kick and a counter one-two. Paige's striking is just nowhere near as good, eats a counter jab, tries for a throw, clinch. Paige defends a throw herself. Paige tries another throw, Rose counters landing on top in side control. 4:00, knee on belly. "Watch your arm!" A left and a right, gets the back, both hooks. Paige escapes, Rose on top in side control. Paige regains half-guard. Rose lands a left elbow. Gets the back, 3:00. Paige stands., Rose knees the body twice, clinch. Paige looks at the clock, looks glum when she sees just under three minutes left. Rose tries a trip, Paige stuffs it. Paige tries a throw, gets it that time, tries to take the back, Rose muscles on top of her, side control. Stann keeps talking shit about Paige's flawed technique with the takedowns. Rose gets the back, 2:00. No hooks. That cut's opened again. Paige stands and defends a standing arm triangle. Clinch. Rose knees the body, breaks with a left. Cheers. "To go from Alex Chambers to Rose Namajunas is a big step." 1:00. Paige basically just pulls half-guard. Stann is being a bit more kind to her now. 35. 10. Rise staying patient. R2 ends, 10-9 Namajunas. Beautiful performance thus far. "You're slowly breaking her," Wittman tells Rose. Paige's corner wants aggression. "She's slowing down, you're picking up speed. You got three rounds to win this." R3 began. Van Zant tries a flying knee, clinch. "Awkward technique," Stann comments, calls her technique "ugly and nasty." Rose gets a trip to half-guard. Rose knees the body twice. Paige turtles up trying a single. Might get it. 4:00. Rose steps over thinking about going for an arm, they stand and break. Paige lands a jab and a knee. Rose lands a counter right and another, dodges a backfist. Rose gets the waist cinch. They break. Rose front kicks the body. That cut's open again. "Head movement!" Paige keeps touching the right side of her jaw. 3:00. Rose lands a huge counter right. Paige touches the other side of her mouth, too. Paige blocks a high kick. Rose lands a right, and a left. Clinch. 2:00 as Rose gets her down, has the back. No hooks. Turns on top to half-guard. A right. Stann very critical of Paige. A left. That cut's really opened. Side control now. Short left elbow, gets the back, one hook with a big right under. 1:00. Paige stands, Rose gets the hooks jumping up, drags her down, as the choke under the chin, it's in tight. 35. Paige valiantly fighting it. She's grimacing, her face is a crimson mask. Blood's in both her eyes, the choke's making the blood pump out more. 15. Lots of heart shown, fuck yeah. Paige escapes. Rose lands a right, two more. Gets the back. Gets the back standing, R3 ends, 10-8 Rose, almost finished there. "Throw your punches, throw your kicks, get off your angle," Holdsworth said. R4 began. Clinch. Rose easily gets a trip to side control. Paige regains half-guard, gets out the back door. Rose turning back on top, guard. Half-guard easily. 4:00. Rose staying patient. Can't believe she's only 23. She goes for a kimura, switches to an armbar, she may have this. Paige fighting it. Rose locks it up, it's in. She has this. Paige defending, great heart shown. She escapes, crowd roars, Paige turtles up. Wow. Rose lands two left elbows, two more, another, Paige turtling up again. Rose gets the back. 3:00. Paige defends a choke, doesn't let it get in. Paige shakes her head at someone cageside. Stands to the waist cinch. Paige stuffs a trip, rolls for something, half-guard. Rose mounts, gets the back, goes for an armbar again, that's tight. Paige thinks about tapping. 2:00. Paige defending. It's tight, oh god, that elbow's gonna go. Paige turns on top, crowd roars. She's on top, Rose has another arm, goes for an omoplata. Excellent fucking fight. Rose lets it go, gets the back. Rose gets both hooks. Loses them. 1:00. Paige stands to the waist cinch. Clinch. Paige defends a trip. 35. Paige looks at the clock, smiles. 15, they break, Paige wipes her right eye clean. Rose lands a right. Clinch, Rose gets an easy trip throw, side control. R4 ends, 10-9 Namajunas. "Leave it all out there, let's go Paige." R5 began. Rose lands a counter left, counter one-two, counter left, clinch. Rose gets an easy trip to half-guard. "Don't wait!" Rose stepping over, side control. 4:00. Paige regains half-guard. "Little elbows, little shots to that nose!" Rose lands a left elbow, gets the back nicely. Turns on top mounting. 3:00. Gets the back, both hooks. Loses them. Gets both hooks explosively. Working for the choke, that's in. That's tight, Paige taps. Rose hugs Paige on the ground. 2:25 R5. "I feel great, I just want to pet my dog right now." Lol. "I knew her arms look pretty gummy and would be pretty flexible so I probably couldn't get armbars even if they were there all day." She said she'd like to take a little break but was ready for anything. Hugs Dana White. He seemed absolutely impressed. "Hey congrats!" he said. Joanna cageside lol.